Can remote electric meter reading cause circuit breakers to trip?

The other day, the meter reader came to read our meter, and used some contraption that made a weird noise - I'm always right there when he reads it, and it was definitely something new. He said it sends the reading remotely (or something).

A few hours later, we're suddenly tripping circuit breakers right and left! We haven't tripped a breaker in YEARS. PSE&G, our provider says there's no way what their employee did could have caused our breakers to suddenly start tripping.

Are they right? Was this just a coincidence? And if the latter, what do we do?

Well, Don, the GFCI actually measures the difference in the current between the hot and the neutral...it doesn't even need a ground to work. If the current returning isn't within a very small amount (often around 5ma), it trips. That lost current could go to the ground circuit, or anywhere, but it's irrelevant if the ground is actually there.